


In Quick Pursuit of Justice

by ForestFiresong



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, Homestuck Rarepair Swap 2015
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-23
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-03-19 05:14:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3597690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForestFiresong/pseuds/ForestFiresong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Jane Crocker is called in to investigate a murder of a troll by a human, she is paired up with an intelligent legislacertator named Terezi Pyrope who proves to be like no one she's worked with before. Despite the human-troll relations being strained, the two of them form a close relationship- and hopefully solve the case between it all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Quick Pursuit of Justice

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MadDub](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadDub/gifts).



> This story was writte on the prompt:  
> "Jane Crocker, a gifted human detective, and Terezi Pyrope, a brutal Alternian legislacerator, pair up to solve a case that is thought to be the product of a hate crime stemmed from the current biasm between trolls and humans. Really, I just want these two being silly and pseudo-serious together with a lot of cute fluffy (ingenious thinking) stuff happening between them. Because what better way to do that then a Sherlock Holms kind of thing."  
> I hope you like it! I took a few liberties with the troll-human AU, so I hope that's okay. But in general it was really fun to write these two being cute detectives together (even if I didn't conclude the case in here). So I hope it fulfills your expectations :)

As of late, very little had piqued Jane Crocker’s interest.  


Her days of sitting in her tiny office were mundane and filled with lounging around in boredom, only for a new face to cross her threshold- and end up reporting a mere robbery or a missing child (who would turn out to have been be at the park the whole time). And of course, every crime was worth investigating, but lately they had taken very little mental work, which bored her greatly.  


So when a smartly dressed and grave-looking official entered her doors, the young detective sat up and straightened her skirt, with the feeling that something interesting was about to happen.  


“There’s been a murder.”

x-x-x

“It was a lowblood, from one of the poor sectors,” the teal-blooded troll explains as Jane follows behind him as they stroll through the streets. He looks vaguely uncomfortable, and Jane assumes it’s because most trolls are nocturnal and it’s mid-afternoon in the human sector. However, legislacerators never sleep, apparently, or are just very diligent at their jobs.  


“And you called on me why?” Jane had easily agreed to go with the teal-blood to the crime scene after being informed of the murder, but in reality, there’s not much need for a human detective when it comes to a case of a murdered troll.  


The teal-blood rubs his horns, a nervous gesture, probably. Jane can read human behavior fairly efficiently, since she is a detective and it’s useful for interrogating people, but troll behavior is a whole other thing. “This is a… special case. First of all, the murder was found in a human neighborhood, and… well, you’ll see when we get there. But the body was discovered this morning. We think the perpetrator was a human.”  


“Really?” Jane narrows her eyes. This is interesting. She’s investigated murders before, solved them too, but they were all human-on-human or troll-on-troll, when they needed a particularly gifted detective on the case. Of course, given the constant tension between trolls and humans, death is fairly common whenever they cross paths. But those were hate crimes, and always handled by the government, rarely by detectives-for-hire, such as Jane.  


The teal-blood nods. “Because it involves humans too, the Empress thinks we should use the input of both species on the matter. Might help bring them together or something. And since you were the best available…”  


Jane’s chest puffs out with pride slightly as he says that. She knows that she’s one of the human best detectives out there, and she’s worked hard for it. It’s nice to be acknowledged for it, especially by teal-bloods who barely seem to notice humans, so removed are they from each other.  


“This should be it.” the teal-blood stops in front of a jungle of yellow crime tape, the large black letters inscribed in various languages, including Alternian. But no matter what language, the message is clear, and the humans passing by give it a wide berth.  
“Looks like the police got here pretty quick,” Jane mutters to herself. She has official recognition and a license, and moves around the side of the tape to get a better look at the scene.  


They’re standing right by a river, and the part blocked off is a dock and a small fishing boat, with bright sunlight flashing off the water and illuminating the scene perfectly. White birds circle overhead and alight on the water, and the small waves slap the dock in a steady rhythm. It would be a nice scene if not for the grotesqueness of the body.  


It’s not pretty. It wasn’t the goriest scene Jane had ever seen, but the bent joints and several stabs wounds, marked by rust-colored blood, were a sight to behold, as well as the uncanny paleness of the troll’s gray skin and the way her hair became a matted mane around her face.  


“They sure did a number on this one.”  


“Didn’t they?” Jane straightens in surprise when she hears the response from behind her, and turns to see who answered. Standing behind her is a female troll with pointy horns sticking from her short, choppy black hair and pointed red glasses. In fact, every part of her is knife-edged and sharp, from her angular elbows to the tapered end of her cane, which taps rapidly along the ground as she walks.  


Cane… is she…? Jane raises her eyes to to the troll’s. They’re bright red and striking, and even though Jane knows she can’t see, she feels her pulse quicken as they move over her, like the legislacerator can see her every movement.  


“My name’s Terezi Pyrope.” the troll gives her a smile, with rows full of spiky teeth, and Jane reminds herself to stay wary. Teal-bloods are known to be highly intelligent, and although she’s had more interaction with trolls than most, she still hasn’t fully memorized their actions.  


“Jane Crocker.” Terezi nods at that statement, and then takes a deep breath, as though breathing in her surroundings.  
“Blue raspberry,” she announces.  


Jane squints. “What?”  


“That’s you.” she gives another grin. “Most humans smell like cherry, you know, because you all have the same blood. Not that I mind. Cherry is delicious!”  


Jane says nothing, mostly because she’s not entirely sure what this troll is going on about. This whole “smelling colors” shtick seems to be a very interesting form of synesthesia, and Jane is wearing a blue skirt. There’s no way Terezi could know, though, given that she’s blind.  


_They’re all enigmas, I swear._  


“You just have that feel to you,” the troll goes on, continuing to tap her cane on the ground as she looks this way and that, the wind blowing through her hair and sunlight bouncing off her glasses, nearly blinding Jane. “Anyway, I was assigned this case along with you, so looks like we’ll be working on this investigation together!”  


“Yes, I suppose so.” Jane glances back at the crime scene, where there are several humans wandering around, probably part of the police, taking pictures. “Who’s going to come in and do the autopsy? I highly doubt any human doctors know enough about troll anatomy to take it on.”  


“We’ve already called someone in. They can handle that. Meanwhile, Jane, you and I need to be focusing on the pursuit of justice!”  
Jane shakes her head slowly. “I never gave you my name.”  


“Oh, I already know it.” Terezi says nonchalantly, and Jane once again gets a warm feeling in her chest. She’s never worked with a troll before, and investigating a murder is certainly a strange thing to get excited over, but someone she couldn’t help a smile making it’s way to her face.

x-x-x

Later, while sitting back in her office and going over the file sent to her from the crime scene, Jane receives a message.  
She sets aside the file in a neat stack on her desk- everything is meticulously organized under the warm yellow light of her lamp, just the way she likes it- before turning to the blinking Pesterchum notification on her computer.  


It’s a Crockercorp computer, as are all of Jane’s electrical appliances, and she clicks away all the spam and ads before opening up the notification. She fully expects it to be from Roxy or Jake (but not Dirk- elusive as he was) and is surprised when she sees it’s from a Trollian handle.

\-- gallowsCalibrator [GC] started trolling gutsyGumshoe [GG] at 23:11 P.M. --

GC: H3Y J4N3 >:]  
GG: Who is this?  
GC: 1TS T3R3Z1!  
GC: 1 THOUGHT YOU WOULD KNOW, NO HUM4NS H4V3 TYP1NG QU1RKS L1K3 TH1S  
GG: How did you even get my pesterchum?  
GG: I only use this for casual conversation.  
GG: Certainly not for work.  
GC: 1 TH1NK 1TS 4 P3RF3CTLY R3SP3CT4BL3 W4Y TO T4LK 4BOUT WORK  
GC: 4LSO  
GC: 1 W4NT3D TO SHOW YOU 4 P1CTUR3 1 DR3W  
GG: A picture?  
GG: Go right ahead. But it better be serious business, I’m telling you!  
GG: :B  
GC: S33, 1 KN3W YOU WOULD OP3N UP  
GC: H3R3, L3T M3 4TT4CH 1T

Jane waits, wondering just what exactly a blind troll would draw, and if it would even relate to their investigation. Her first day meeting Terezi, and she already seems like a loose cannon. She can’t deny that she was fun to talk to though.  


The attachment pops up on the screen and Jane clicks it, fully prepared for anything, including an odd Alternian form of rick-rolling.  
However, there is an actual drawing attached- “drawing” being a loose term. Dark red scribbles were everyone, making a figure that was vaguely humanoid. Jane leans forward, leans back, and remains confused.  


But she can’t say she was really expecting anything different from a troll that can’t even see her drawing canvas.

GG: I must say, this is giving me quite a bit of difficulty!  
GG: Like a particularly metaphorical piece of modern art.  
GG: Care to explain?  
GC: 1 KNOW YOU C4N F1GUR3 TH1S OUT J4N3  
GC: BUT 1’LL 3XPL41N 1T  
GC: 1T’S MY CR1M3 SC3N3 SK3TCH!

Jane glances back at the mess of red lines, and then back at the words on the screen. She wonders if it’s a joke, then concludes probably not. It wouldn’t hurt to do some joking herself, though.

GG: Oh! I understand it now.  
GG: Your artistic skills are just impeccable.  
GC: 1 KNOW YOU’R3 PROB4BLY B31NG S4RC4ST1C BUT 1 4PPR3C14T3 TH3 THOUGHT  
GC: 1 JUST THOUGHT 1’D C4PTUR3 TH3 SC3N3 TH3 ONLY W4Y 1 COULD  
GC: THROUGH SM3LL1NG!   
GG: So that is how you see, then?  
GG: You just smell everything.  
GC: TH4T’S R1GHT   
GC: 1’M SM3LL1NG YOUR BLU3 R4SPB3RRY WORDS R1GHT NOW  
GG: That must be really helpful for investigations!  
GG: Are you sure you couldn’t just smell the murderer’s scent right from the corpse’s stab wound?  
GC: SORRY BUT NO  
GC: TH3 W4T3R H4S 3R4S3D MOST OF TH3 SC3NTS TH4T 4R3N’T R4SPB3RRY BLOOD  
GG: That’s quite morbid.  
GC: SO 1’V3 B33N TOLD  
GG: I suppose it just goes with the job description.  
GG: Well, in any case, if we’re going to communicate over pesterchum, we might as well actually start talking about the case.  
GG: I’ve been going over the files all night. There’ve been a few witness reports, have you read them?  
GC: Y3S  
GG: I’m more interested about why this particular troll was in a human neighborhood, since everyone’s so rigid and avoidant these days.  
GG: And if there was more to the skirmish than just bumping into each other on a dark street in the middle of the night.  
GG: That also means that we need to take sleeping patterns into consideration.  
GG: Speaking of which, did you just wake up?  
GC: 1’V3 B33N 4W4K3 4LL D4Y  
GG: I applaud your resilience.  
GC: J4N3, YOU SHOULD COM3 OV3R TO MY H1V3 SO W3 C4N T4LK 4BOUT TH1S MOR3  
GC: IN P3RSON  
GG: That seems awfully personal for a case such as this.  
GC: OH COM3 ON  
GG: Fine, but it must be serious business!  
GC: YOU T4LK L1K3 YOU 4R3N’T DO1NG SOM3TH1NG 1NCR3D1BLY S1LLY R1GHT NOW  
GG: I’m not.  
GG: Whatever would give you that idea?

 

But Terezi really must have prophetic powers or simply very good guessing skills, Jane thought to herself as she twirled her fake moustache. She wasn’t a legislacerator for nothing, it seemed, even if she fluctuated between being incredibly silly and very morbid.  


An interesting case indeed.

x-x-x

As the weeks wore on, Jane and Terezi continued to work close together on the case, and Jane couldn’t say that she minded it at all. All of her work before that case had been solo, and while she could function just fine on her own, she had never realized how much more entertaining having a partner could be.  


They went around interrogating the various humans of the neighborhood, looking for more witnesses; and when they didn’t find any, they interrogated any of the trolls that the murdered troll had known. They looked into her background for suspicious activities. They surveyed the crime scene and went over the pictures taken multiple times, and Terezi kept drawing her own interpretations of what had happened. Naturally they were incoherent, but Jane felt herself get caught in the spirit anyway and drew her own stick-figure versions. Terezi said they reeked of raspberry.  


Beyond that, Jane actually got a look into the troll world. Despite sharing a planet, troll society and human society was still sharply divided, and when they did interact, it often resulted in murders such as they one they were investigating. However, being with Terezi was quite different than Jane had been expecting, although some of her psychopathic tendencies were reminiscent of the stereotypical troll image that Jane had in her mind.  


Not to mention, baking with Terezi was an experience Jane never, ever wanted to forget. She had always been a prodigy when it came to confectioneries, so when Terezi inquired about it she had no choice but to make her some. Needless to say, it ended up with dough and chocolate everywhere and Terezi looking like she’d just had a religious experience.  


After all, Crocker cake was just that good.  


Baking shenanigans aside, however, they had been making headway in their investigation. They had recently pinpointed an abandoned warehouse the perpetrator was suspected of having gone through, and had decided to make a trip there together.  


“You know, I’m starting to wonder if this counts as a hate crime anymore.” Jane says, walking alongside Terezi as they trudge through the long grass on their way towards the warehouse, which stands dark and imposing against the cloudy sky. “There’s clearly something bigger going on behind the scenes- who’s to say our mystery man killed her because she was a troll?”  


“Yeah.” Terezi shrugs. “Obviously there’s a conspiracy or something going on. Just the fact she was in a human neighborhood suggests something more.”  
Jane nods, thinking for a moment, half on the case, and half on Terezi. Finally she speaks. “Don’t you think it’s somewhat strange to make friends through a murder case?”  


“Not when your entire job is murder cases.” Terezi shrugs again, brushing her bangs out of her face so her blank red eyes catch the light. Jane still gets the feeling that Terezi is always watching her, but she’s grown used to it by now. “And I can’t say that I’m complaining.”  


Jane looks down at her feet, words suddenly stilled. The blind troll always finds a way to make her flustered.  


They stop outside of the warehouse door, tall and imposing and probably also hard to move. The grass waves in the wind around their ankles, and they can hear the river just inches away. The same river the troll’s body was dumped in, no less. It’s quite a morbid thought and makes Jane appreciate the river a little less.  


The push open the door with surprisingly little effort and make their way in. The walls of the warehouse are crumbling, letting golden light from the setting sun in, and all the conveyor belts and contraptions are silent and rusted, having been unused for years. Plants grow over them, and the vast amount of silent and still junk makes it a perfect hiding place for a criminal on the run. And a body dump- certainly better than a river.  


Jane makes sure to tread carefully and search for evidence as she walks through, considering all she knows about forensic and how important it is not to disturb anything. Terezi, on the other hand, makes her way through hitting everything with her cane, and Jane would reprimand her if she didn't know how acute her sense of smell is, guaranteeing Terezi will know better than to disturb anything important.  
As she walks, Jane scans the warehouse for any sign of life- crumpled up food containers, abandoned articles of clothing or bandages from the scuffle, but she sees nothing, not even strands of hair or footprints on the dust-laden surface. She’s mildly disappointed, but figures there may be fingerprints to find if she dusts.  


However, before she has a chance, she hears Terezi call from several paces away.  


“Jane, I think I found something. I- shit.”  


“What is it?” Suddenly Terezi is running by her, grabbing her and pulling her around pieces of abandoned equipment, avoiding them with quick and nimble steps with the help of only her scent and her cane (both very competent).  


“This place is about to explode.”  


“What?!”  


“There are a bunch of weapons, including bombs, which someone decided to set a timer for, probably to destroy the evidence. We should’ve been quicker on this guy, because there’s clearly a set-up here!”  


“That sounds important but to make sure we don’t die a horribly fiery death-” Jane never finishes her sentence because as she speaks, the bomb goes off, the explosion louder than anything she’s ever heard and sending them flying. She’s ripped from Terezi’s grip and the impact sends her face first into the grass so that she’s spitting up dirt when the shrapnel starts raining down.  


She tries to crawl away at first, and then cowers and shelters herself as sharp wood and metal bits rain from the sky and a cloud of smoke rises. She’s rolling on the ground coughing when she hears Terezi calling for her.  


“I-” Jane coughs, then rises to her feet unsteadily. Her back is scratched up from the bits and she’s a bit dizzy, but she needs to find Terezi. “I’m over here!”  


She blinks in the smoke and sees Terezi emerging, looking like she’s stepping from some amazing movie Jake could definitely watch. The teal-blood makes her way over to Jane.  


“I can barely see a thing,” Jane complains, waving smoke out of her face.  


“Welcome to my life.” Terezi rolls her eyes behind her glasses and Jane shrugs sheepishly.  


“Sorry.”  


“No, don’t be. I love blind jokes!” Terezi places her hands on Jane’s shoulder. “Are you okay? Come on, don’t keep me in the dark about it!” She laughs a laugh that’s more like a cackle and Jane grins.  


“I don’t think now’s the best time for blind jokes.”  


“There’s always time for blind jokes.”  


“If you say so.”  


“But seriously, are you okay?” Terezi’s voice becomes more grim. “I can smell your bright-cherry blood all over the place.”  


“Really, I’m fine,” Jane says, but even as she says that, she’s leaning into Terezi and swaying a bit. It’s easy to forget how hardy teal-bloods are in comparison to humans- not only do they live much longer, but their pain threshold is much higher.  


Terezi sits down and Jane leans against her, the smoke making her dizzy and the scratches running little drops of blood down her back. She knows that Terezi doesn't really know how to help, but really it’s fine to just sit there, so they do that for several minutes.  


Finally Jane looks up from where her head had been resting against Terezi’s shoulder and flicks some of the troll’s black hair from her face. “I think I’m okay now.”  


Terezi looks down, and she’s grinning slightly. “Your lip is bleeding.”  


“I should get that off then.”  


And then Terezi kisses her- and Jane’s not sure why, maybe because of the whole action-movie atmosphere of it- but when she thinks about it, she realizes she doesn't mind kissing her badass troll-partner-in-solving-crime. In fact, she might’ve been thinking about it since they met. Just maybe.  


They do that for a couple seconds maybe, soft and quick, before Jane pulls back because her head’s still spinning, because of the smoke and because of Terezi, and leans against her shoulder again as the smoke recedes overhead.  


When Terezi speaks again, it’s like she hasn't missed a beat. “We should probably go investigate that explosion.”  


“We probably should.”


End file.
